12 March, 2008

Winter Warmers: Carrot-Coconut Shorba

Carrot-Coconut Shorba

Warm, cold, cold, cold, warm, warm, cold, warm, cold…

No, I am not chanting some mantra nor I have gone mad. Well, it’s my usual grumbling about the weather here in Britain. I guess I can write a thesis on changing weather and still be left with much more thing to talk about. Two weeks back it was earthquake and now its flood warning!!! Mother Earth is really angry at us and I am not surprised! Even 5 year olds are talking about Global Warming and its consequence!!! When I was of their age all I talked about was how snow white got her price charming and thinking of getting married to my prince charming. I even remember asking my parents for coloured television as my wedding gift!!! Ah!!! My first love, an Idiot Box.

I did it again, drifted away from current topic. Well, what was I talking about?! Oh yes, weather. We are experiencing quite unusual change in weather once in every few hours. Don’t be surprised to see if it starts to snow just when the sky was clear a moment ago with bright sunshine kissing the lovely daffodils. At once you see sun shining and next moment he is hiding behind the black clouds. It feels like weather god is busy playing games with us but not everyone is amused with his little games here. It’s very common to see people falling sick as the weather changes. With truck loads of work on my desk and deadline fast approaching I try not to take any risk when it comes to health. So we have been cooking and eating food which are good source of anti-oxidants and help in keeping us fit. If you are planning to visit us be prepared to be welcomed with big steaming pot of broth cooking in our kitchen. It’s a common to see piping bowl of soup and warm bread direct from oven in our household.

K and I both enjoy soup with bread. We both love experiment with the ingredients and use fresh produce from farmer’s market. Last weekend we bought big basket full of carrots from farmer’s market and decided to make soup. As carrots are rich source of vitamin A and C and also anti-oxidants we use them quite often, be it raw or cooked. Carrots are considered to be the ‘best vegetable’ for balanced diet. Sometime back I had watched Sanjeev Kapoor’s recipe of Carrot-Coconut Shorba which immediately caught my attention. Carrot and coconut, a marriage made in heaven!!! He used king of spices and Indian spices to spice up this sweet vegetable and creamy coconut milk. No more convincing was required to cook this for our dinner. Although carrot and coconut milk are the main ingredients which are sweet in flavour, the real punch comes from black peppercorns, chilli, fresh cilantro and other spices. The burst of flavour you experience when sipping this bowl of soup is makes this recipe a keeper. I am sending this Carrot-Coconut Shorba to Holler of Tinned Tomatoes who is hosting March edition of No Croutons Required and the theme is Spicy Vegetarian Soups.

Method:Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and curry leaves. When mustard starts to pop and splutter, add jeera and sauté.When jeera starts to sizzle, add roughly sliced onion, whole green chillies, black peppercorns and sauté for a minute.Mix in sliced carrots, salt to taste and close the lid. Cook the carrots covered without adding any water for five minutes, sautéing in between.Add water, coriander leaves and cook for further five minutes over a medium heat till carrots turn tender.Drain the water and reserve. When it is cool enough to handle grind carrot mixture adding little reserved stock at a time to smooth paste.Transfer reserved stock, ground carrot paste and cook for 2-3 minutes. Mix in coconut milk and cook for another 2-3 minutes on a medium flame.Adjust the seasoning and serve hot garnished with a splash of coconut milk and enjoy.

Carrot-Coconut Shorba

Reminder!

An Ode to Potato ends on 15th of March (GMT Time). Send in your entry before the deadline and join us in the singing. Bake, boil, mash, fry, sauté, grill, stuff, cook... The choice is endless.Deadline: 15th March, 2008

Please go through the guidelines and include all the required information in your post and mail when sending me your entry. Don't forget to add Your Name, Your Blog Name, Name of the Dish you cooked, Perm Link of the entry along with the gorgeous Photo of Potato dish.

42 comments
:

I do make carrot soup but then the bland one,onions, carrots, veggie broth and a dash of cream and peper.Well after seeing this carrot soup, I have declared i am not going to make mine anymore.Will make this version next time.

Hey Sia, I know! We had a warm day one day and you get up in the morning to see a blanket of snow outside. World is going all crazy these days!!Y'day you needed a coat, today it's 65F and very sunny, great for cleaning kitchen. I did clean until almost 1pm, had a shower and found that I have nothing to eat except bit of rice, yogurt, pickle and khara chutney!!:P

Anyway, I could use that yummy soup right now, looks gorgeous.Great entry. I won't be able to send any to her until after April. I have 3 more posts to go, that's it! Got a Arusuvai package on Saturday, will be cooking today!:)

Been on a coconut binge myself lately, so this one will be tried immediately :). Great recipe, Sups. And hey, this is lovable winters or peak summers :-D. Its been kinda' hot here in Los Angeles for a cpl. of days with some mellowing today. I agree with you about getting sick, i was sailing in that boat a cpl. of weeks ago :-D.

I liked tyhe idea of coconut in that shorba and the picture is gorgeous.Right now, I wouldn't mind some of that cold as its pretty hot out here, 35C today! And there's another 2 1/2 months of summer yet.

Everyone's talking about spring, and there's no spring to be seen anywhere at my place as yet. And wat i crave for always are warming dishes, and soups. Carrot and coconut milk combo looks too good, Will make this tonight. Thnx for sharing!!

IM BACK MUHAHAHAHA <-insert more evil laughter. Ok moving onI realized I missed many of wonderful entries and I been catching up on it all. Soup looks yum! Can I say "Please sir/maam, Can I have some more" <-insert weak British accent.

Namaste! I am Sia and welcome to Monsoon Spice, my virtual home. Thank you for all your comments, inputs and feedback. I really appreciate the valuable time you spent browsing through my recipe repertoire.

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About Sia

Born in India and raised in fun and food loving family, I currently reside in UK with my better half and my two babies, five years old son and nine years old food blog. My cooking style has strong root in Indian culture and at the same time embraces the world cuisine with equal passion. With never ending love for food, spice and life, I am passionate about cooking and making Indian food less intimidating, healthy and easy to cook which reflects in my blog Monsoon Spice which has been ranked one among Top Indian food blogs. Read more…

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